Demand St. Paul Local Politicians to Sign the ProTruth Pledge!

City Council Candidate for Ward 1: Abu Nayeem; Published 08/27/19

Time to keep it real! It shouldn’t take a superhero to explain the importance of truth and honesty from our local officials. The current average approval rating for Congress is 19% and a recent two year study/field experiments from Yale University of over 2,300 state legislators have shown that politicians do not care/respond to what constituents want. Within Saint Paul, the administrative leadership on the trash referendum, demolition of St. Andrew’s church, and other initiatives has the public lost confidence in our institutions.

It is essential right now for our leaders to build trust between citizens and local institutions. A system is as corrupt as the people that are leading it. This may seem like an unfair characterization, but our current leaders have the power to be more transparent/ forthright on the decision making process. This is counterintuitive for politicians because the less transparent they are, the less people know what is going on, and thus less reasons to vote them out. Career politician knows this..

I would like to ask citizens: what are we role-modelling to our kids and youth on the moral values of a local leader?

If your immediate reaction to the term “honest politician” is disbelief, and the normalized expectation of them being self-serving, then the youth is able to pick this up! So why are we electing (if choose to vote) these people? The hard truth is that people select leaders that put their values over the expense of others and their personal characteristics is secondary. Case in point, President Trump openly bullies people, spreads hateful rhetoric, place family members in prominent positions, and spent $340 million taxpayer dollars for personal trips such as golfing to his own businesses; thus personally enriching himself at taxpayers expense. Despite all of this, there are citizens accusing Mayor Carter’s administration being corrupt, while siding/ defending Trump’s behavior.

Our city needs good leadership to rebuild trust between citizens and governance. True leaders serve everyone with integrity, lead by example, and prioritize support to people in need. I have signed the ProTruth Pledge so my constituents and citizens can hold me accountable. The pledge is an implicit agreement that I will represent Saint Paul with integrity and facts. Let’s encourage our current administration and city council candidates to sign the ProTruth pledge so citizens are informed on the policies, and know which candidates will run with integrity.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION below demanding that are local leaders sign the ProTruth Pledge:

In addition, if you want to personally sign the pledge, you can click here. Cheers,

Abu Nayeem

P.S. If you don’t sign, we risk the possibility of a dysfunctional city overrun by supervillians and masked vigilantes, though it would make a good origin story and, rest assured, I will stand for justice, unless a tragic accident…

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Facts Matter

Local Heroes

While he has struggled to find a use for his superpower of turning himself into a gazebo, Claude “Gazeboman” Blackwood meanwhile is doing good things in his community, attending City Council meetings, organizing citizens to preserve and improve our parks. A little piece of nature in the heart of the city is a benefit to all.